AFRICAN Union Sports Council Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games Zimbabwe basketball coach Sam Mutsvanga says he was overally impressed with the performance of the girls’ team although there would be need to come up with a plan on how to handle such taxing competitions in future.
Sports Reporter
The girls’ team collected a bronze medal after beating South Africa 52-39 in the third and fourth-place play-offs at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Grounds on Saturday.
They played five matches, won three, but lost to Angola and Mozambique before they again lost 43-83 to Mozambique on Friday.
Angola were crowned champions in the girls’ and boys’ categories, Mozambique men and women won silver while Zimbabwe men and women grabbed bronze.
Mutsvanga said the girls played well against South Africa on Saturday.
“The game was OK. The ladies played a very disciplined game. We stopped South Africa from running their fast rate game. From there on they struggled, they couldn’t score. In the end it was very comfortable. It was an easier game than we anticipated.
“We have got to prepare in time for such competitions. We need a lot of time to prepare for such games. They are very gruesome games because the girls were playing day in day out without getting enough rest. We have got to come up with a strategy to get the girls in camp earlier for conditioning and psychological preparations,” he said.
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He said fatigue contributed to the results.
“In general I think it was fatigue. After the game against Angola the girls couldn’t recover fully because they had a good game against Angola who were tournament favourites. We almost won it, but they got burnt out during that game. I think that is something we need to look at and decide what can we do as basketball to prepare for such gruesome activities like the ones we just went through.
“I am OK. I knew we were going to bring home something and having lost to better opposition in silver and gold I think I am satisfied,” the Southern Eye sub-editor said.
Zimbabwe boys’ team coach Tawanda Chitsinde was also happy.
“I am actually more than happy because we have achieved what we wanted to in this tournament. We are closing the gap between the Mozambicans and the Angolans. We haven’t done it before, but due to us having bigger guys to match up with Angolans and Mozambicans we are getting close,” he said.
The team grabbed bronze after beating South Africa 71-60 in the third and fourth-place play-off.
Angola proved that they are the regional basketball powerhouses after clinching the titles in both categories.
Mozambique girls led 13-7 in the first quarter and were on top of the situation in the second quarter as they went into break leading 22-18.
However, Angola came back in the third quarter as it finished with them leading 26-33 before Mozambique narrowly lost 39-41. Mozambique men led 13-9 in the first quarter and were down 23-28 in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, Angola finished on 40 points with Mozambique trailing by a point before they wrapped it up in the last quarter as it finished 49-54.
Mozambique got free-throws towards the end of the match, but they missed some which proved to be their downfall.
